Anger Simmers at Turkish Aid Effort

As Snows Approach and Crowds Clamor For Shelter, Leaders Go on the Defensive

By

Marc Champion

October 27, 2011

ERCIS, Turkey—The country's prime minister said his government made initial mistakes in delivering aid after a powerful earthquake here, while he accused critics of trying to take political advantage of popular anger at his handling of the disaster.

With thousands left homeless after Sunday's devastating earthquake in eastern Turkey, officials and aid groups are scrambling to provide shelter to victims before winter weather hits the region.

Amid dropping temperatures and with falling rain forecast to turn to snow, the governor of Van province, near the epicenter of Sunday's 7.2-magnitude quake, said the real problem now wasn't a shortage of tents, but the demand for them from people who could safely return home but wouldn't because they feared aftershocks.

"It is time to go home," said Gov. Munir Karaloglu, adding that the danger from aftershocks declined 72 hours after an earthquake. That landmark passed on Wednesday afternoon. "We want people whose homes were lightly damaged to go back," said the governor, who is a government appointee.

Two more survivors were pulled from the wreckage on Wednesday, but rescue efforts appeared to be winding down. The death toll crept up to 471—12 more than Tuesday's tally—with 1,650 wounded.

Temblor Strikes Turkey

A rescue team carried a generator as they searched for survivors under a collapsed building in Ercis, Turkey, Tuesday. Osman Orsall/Reuters

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in televised remarks to his ruling Justice and Development Party on Wednesday that "for the first 24 hours there were failures" in controlling the distribution of tents.

"This was our mistake, we accept that," he said.

Mr. Erdogan also appeared to respond to media criticism here of the government's initial reluctance to accept international aid, against a backdrop of scenes of people tussling for tents on Monday.

The government had been criticized for not accepting international aid except from Iran and Azerbaijan, only to reverse its position on Tuesday. An aircraft from Ukraine brought the first foreign aid, delivering shelters on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry. Nine other countries, including France, Israel and Jordan, have said they will send shelters.

Mr. Erdogan, who recalled in his defense on Wednesday that he flew to the region just hours after the quake struck, promised to build "a new city" in the worst-hit towns, Ercis, population 80,000, and Van, a city of 400,000.

ENLARGE

Rescue workers carry a two-week-old baby who was pulled from the debris of the earthquake on Tuesday in Ercis.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Van is in Turkey's mainly Kurdish east, where Turkey's military last week launched a major offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, making the government's handling of the aid effort a politically sensitive matter.

In Ercis, more than a thousand people waited for tents in a line about one kilometer (more than half a mile) long. Many seethed over what they saw as a lack of organization.

Read Related

The death toll reaches at least 200 after an earthquake in Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan says various countries offering help. (Video and photo: Reuters)

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Turkey near the border with Iran. Hundreds are feared dead after buildings collapsed. Courtesy of Reuters.

ENLARGE

"It's a scandal. We've been waiting here for two days and I have an asthmatic 80-year-old who is sleeping outside," said Abdulrahman Aslan, 40. He said his home was lightly damaged, but he was afraid to go back.

The experience getting the tent was "like a second earthquake," said Necip Oksay, as he dragged his large white canvas bag across the street. His family lost two people in the disaster, he said.

The head of the Turkish Red Crescent, the nongovernmental organization responsible for distributing the tents, said the shortage was created in part by looters who stripped 17 trucks in Van. Some of those tents were being sold on a black market.

Siddik Deniz, 60, was camped out in the garden in front of his house in a tent he said was bought from looters. "The state is not helping us….Nobody came to our street to see if we need something."

Rescuers in Ercis continued to dig at 50 of the 85 sites where buildings collapsed. Gozde Bahar, a 27-year-old English teacher who only recently was transferred to Ercis, was found alive 67 hours after the quake. Her heart stopped on the way to the hospital but she was revived on arrival, the state Anadolu news agency reported. Rescuers also pulled 18-year-old student Eyup Erdem, a university undergraduate, from the rubble.

In Van, rescue teams were working at only two of six major sites, according to Gov. Karaloglu. Some shops and restaurants began to reopen in the city for the first time since Sunday's earthquake, and a semblance of normal life was returning.

Dozens of desperate Turkish quake victims in Ercis take aid distribution into their own hands as police intervene to end chaos. Nick Rowlands reports. Courtesy of Reuters.

Asked why people were angry about aid distribution, Mr. Karaloglu said it was "because they are in shock. Even if they don't need a tent they want one, and when they can't get one they get angry," he said.

"It's strange, six buildings collapsed in Van, and we distributed 10,000 tents here," he said. The Red Crescent estimated a total need for 120,000 tents.

Most of the more than 2,200 houses destroyed by the quake were single-story homes in villages, where there was no option to return inside, as winter approaches. There, too, people have complained over the lack of tents.Experts say the first 48 hours after a major quake invariably are chaotic, even in the best-prepared countries. Turkey has a history of catastrophic earthquakes and institutions to respond when they occur.

On Wednesday, the prime minister's office posted a list of the country's top priority needs. In descending order, these included winter tents, storage containers, sleeping bags, non-perishable food and portable toilets.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.